


Snippets of the Past

by andamiro (arysthaeniru)



Series: Sanctuary [1]
Category: Prince of Tennis
Genre: F/M, POV Second Person, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-12
Updated: 2014-04-12
Packaged: 2018-01-19 01:39:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1450579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arysthaeniru/pseuds/andamiro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is not the first time that the Earth has been endangered. It is not the first time these people have saved the world from itself. They know what is coming, because they have seen it before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snippets of the Past

You cannot find him anywhere inside the Sanctuary. Not the garden, nor the kitchen, nor the study and not even the library, where Yanagi is working. You almost expected him to be pestering Yanagi for something, slowly and sweetly flirting, while pretending that he wasn't. But he is not in any of these places, so there is only one place left.

You peek your head onto the roof and gaze a little upon the figure there, with a fond smile. Yukimura did always prefer the roof to any other place. He balances on the edge of the roof, his legs dangling off the open edge, down towards the distant bustling streets underneath them. He will not fall unless he wants to, you know, but you worry, nonetheless. 

He is engrossed in the activity of summoning magic, which is another worrying factor. It swirls around him, yellow and blue and red lights, hovering around him, waiting patiently for their time to come to be used. Slowly, you step forward. His eyes are distant and far-seeing, gazing at something far across the horizon or something deep within his mind. His eyes are so contracted that there isn't a hint of black amidst the swirling blue. His first pair of wings are lightly folded against his back and you almost want to stroke them. But, he is somewhere far away and you cannot bear to disturb him when he like this. 

You take a seat down next to him, instead, though a little further from the edge. You tuck the edges of your kimono under your feet and wait for him, peacefully. It is nice up here, with the wind spiralling past your face and the blue, cloud-filled skies to gaze down upon. And the vision of the concentrated Yukimura is like gazing upon a diamond being formed. It is beautiful to watch, as magic obeys him with such ease. You are as attracted to him as you were twenty years ago, when you first saw the ethereal man. You wonder how many have felt like you do about him, over his three-thousand years of existence. 

He evidently has noticed your presence. The magic starts to travel around you as well, instead of through you, as it has done before, at times when he has been so absorbed, that the whole world is too far away from him to even visualize. You smile a little and wait, as you shut your eyes and just feel the world moving around you. Your grasp over magic is less than his, but enough to feel how powerful he really is. 

It takes a while, but finally, you feel the magic settle around you and you open your eyes, to see Yukimura covering his face as his eyes adjust to the light once more and to being dilated. "My lady." he says, as you place a gentle hand on his shoulder and untie the thin strip around your obi, in order to act as a loose blindfold for him. "What did you want from me?"

"Sanada visited." you tell him, as you gently finish tying the knot and press a small kiss to his cheek. "He was summoned by the Council, but he said that the artifact that you requested was inside the library." 

He catches your hands as you move away from him, and he pulls you closer to his side. Though you are afraid of falling off the edges, away from the Sanctuary and into the real world, it is rare when Yukimura is so affectionate, so you accept it. You slip an arm around him and feel his wings curl around your figure. He leans his head on top of yours and looks out to the horizon.

"Do you hear screaming, my lady?" he asks, softly, his voice soft and distraught as he glances out to the distance. He should not be able to see through the blindfold, but you somehow believe that the cloth does little, in the end. You shake your head and he sighs again. "Good. There is a saying that every soul that is extinguished violently will scream for a minute after their death." he explains. 

You wait, and let him explain fully. Sometimes, Yukimura forgets that you are not so old as he is. He tells you it is because you have a maturity and insight that exceeds your age, and act like someone who has been on the planet for far longer. You wonder, sometimes, whether this is a compliment or not. "My kind hears those screams, often. Even one scream pulls at the heart. But as we head closer to war, the screams increase in frequency and intensity. People die all at once and their screams create a cacophonic harmony of pain." He pauses and looks down. 

"It is said, that when one million voices screamed in unison, the last Great War finished. Already, before war has even been declared, I hear at least a thousand voices. I feel it will take more than a million voices screaming in unison for the war to end this time." says Yukimura, softly. "And by then, I will be mad from it all."

You shake your head and press yourself to his side, inhaling the smell of flowers and dirt and the scent of the freshly tangy ozone of the air. Yukimura is full of contradictions, soft and hard, old and young, all at once. It is easier to deal with him when you are unable to see the contradictions, and are only focusing on his voice and his scent. "It will not happen that way." you say, firmly. "You are strong." 

"It is because I am strong, that I am vulnerable." says Yukimura, squeezing your arm, his voice distraught. "Should I go mad, you will kill me, my lady? I would not have it be anyone else."

You pause. How can he ask this of you? How can you even think about it? "No, it won't go that far." you say, your voice hollow and empty, even to you.

"One of my kind, Byoudin, was alive during the war." states Yukimura. His voice is emotionless and his porcelain face looks like just that, in the bright sunlight. He is distant from you, in this moment. "He was the most powerful back then and because of that, he was driven mad by the screams. He killed more in his madness than any of the army generals of either side. I put him down to save everyone. But I need to be put out of my misery before I become mad, when it happens."

You shake your head and clutch the front of his shirt, screwing up the material in your fists. He has asked you, so you know that you will do it. But the thought of doing it is loathsome to you. Like tearing out your own heart and repeatedly stabbing it or burning alive, after throwing the bodies of children into the fire as well. If you must kill him, you are not sure you can live on in this life. 

"I will not be able to ask again, when I am mad. Then, all I will want is for people to suffer like I will." His arms wrap around you and you both hold each other, like lifelines. The breeze gets colder and the sun fades in its brightness. But they could all pale in comparison to Yukimura now. "You will know, my lady, when I am mad." he says, finally. 

You nod, grimly and shudder again as he presses a kiss to your lips, unrelenting and all-encompassing. The idea that any of these sweet kisses that you share could be your last, is something sickening to you.


End file.
